The blockbuster Marvel film, based on its title superhero character “Black Panther,” made shockwaves across the globe upon its release in January 2018 for the compelling and original storyline, the representation and portrayal of black and female characters, and the diversity in its cast.

The film is centered in the futuristic Wakanda, an isolated and technologically advanced African civilization that is hidden away from the world. Wakanda is rich in natural resources including vibranium, an element that allows it to develop its advanced technology, and an herb that gives its eater superhuman strength and speed. The nation’s culture is also incredibly rich, as demonstrated by its unique music, clothing, cultural and military tradition, and political structure. For onlookers, however, the country looks like a destitute, developing nation with nothing to boast but “textiles, shepherds, and cool outfits.”

T’Challa, the heir to the throne, returns home to Wakanda in the midst of internal and external turmoil. Despite his bloodline, he is challenged by the leader of a rival tribe to ritual combat for the crown. T’Challa ultimately wins but a more dangerous threat to the nation looms in the duo of Ulysses Klaue, a white arms dealer desperate for vibranium, and Erik Killmonger, a Wakandan who feels resentment for his father’s death and Wakanda’s inaction in a time of tremendous disenfranchisement of black people around the globe. Ultimately, after a series of events, Killmonger gains control over Wakanda by ritual combat and hatches a plan to distribute Wakandan weapons forged by vibranium to black people around the world. It is left to T’Challa and his allies to stop Killmonger and disrupt this plan. When the smoke clears, Killmonger dies from a battle wound, choosing to die free than be healed and be incarcerated. After the fighting, T’Challa chooses to open up Wakanda and offer Wakandan technology and support to the rest of the world, with a focus in Oakland where Killmonger was raised.

Within the plot, the film engaged with the global black freedom struggle in several different ways. Primarily however, it pitted two sides against one another (i.e. Oakland vs Wakanda, T’Challa vs Killmonger) and made an argument through the contrast. First, the stark contrast between how Oakland and Wakanda are portrayed serves as evidence for what Ryan Coogler, the director of the film, sees as ideal. Wakanda represents “Haiti” in the sense that it was a nation free from colonization and imperialism. The resulting success of the nation points to the inhibiting and exploitative nature of imperialism, specifically American imperialism. Coogler completely flips the idea of American exceptionalism on its head with the opening scenes of each locale. When Oakland is introduced, it seems hopeless. Children – the future hope of the generation – are out in the park at night playing basketball on a makeshift and dilapidated hoop, physically separated by a fence from seemingly everything else. On the other hand, Wakanda is first depicted as a beautiful place with lush greenery, splendor, wealth, and magnificent colors all in the bright aura of the sun. The stark contrast between the two locations demonstrates the two possible realities for black peoples in the context of Western imperialism – repression under its yoke and the prosperity that seemingly results from isolation from it.

Secondly, there are many scenes (especially the fight scenes) that juxtapose Killmonger and T’Challa and their competing philosophies and notions of the global black freedom struggle. The scenes with the two of them frequently set them up as equal and opposite. To me, the tension between Killmonger and T’Challa closely mirrors that of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the film, Killmonger is fueled by anger over the murder of his father and the Wakandans’ inaction in suffering black peoples across the globe. As such, he seeks black separatism and self-actualization by arming the oppressed with Wakandan weaponry. On the other hand, T’Challa seeks peace and prosperity for the people under his reign. Although he starts in the black separatist camp in the beginning, he decides to bring the white injured CIA agent back to Wakanda to heal him and ultimately chooses to open up Wakanda to the world, which reflects an assimilationist attitude. Presently, American media tends to demonize Malcolm X and idolize Martin Luther King Jr. However, the film does a good job of demonstrating that both characters are justified in their decisions and ideologies. Both ultimately seek the wellbeing of those they believe are entrusted to them. For T’Challa, his interests lie primarily in the wellbeing of his people whereas Killmonger aches for the “2 billion people all over the world that looks like us” but have “harder” lives. Ultimately, the film sides with T’Challa and the peaceful assimilationist approach with his decision to open up Wakanda to the world. In that decision, however, one can see the effect Killmonger had on T’Challa in his final moments when T’Challa decides to open up an outreach center in Killmonger’s neighborhood.

Ultimately, the primary theme that takes precedent even over the battle between isolationism vs assimilation, nonviolence vs violence, etc. is the importance of global black solidarity. In a recent interview, Ryan Coogler, the director of the film, discusses a particular scene in which the three main characters of the scene are dressed in red, green, and black, the colors of the Pan-African flag. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNHc2PxY8lY) They then proceed to fight together successfully against the white supervillain in pursuit of vibranium. In addition to the allusion to Pan Africanism and its power, there is a moment of black solidarity and mutual understanding and respect between T’Challa and Killmonger in their final scene together. The moment is incredibly powerful because the two enemies come together and recognize that they are seeking analogous things and have a moment of mutual respect.

The film represents an incredible moment in contemporary black culture because it was truly empowering to so many black people across the globe to see themselves on the screen as wealthy, prosperous, attractive, powerful, and moral heroes and heroines.